Effect of emergency medical technician certification for all prehospital personnel in a Latin American city.

Background: In Mexico and most other Latin American countries, many emergency medical services (EMS) systems rely on employees and volunteers with only on-the-job training and without formal Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) certification. This study sought to evaluate the costs and effectiveness of providing EMT certification to all personnel working in an EMS service in a Mexican city.

Methods: At baseline, only 20% of the prehospital personnel (medics) working for the EMS service in Santa Catarina, Nuevo Leon, Mexico had EMT certification.

Cost-effectiveness and benefit of alternatives to improve training for prehospital trauma care in Mexico.

Introduction: In Latin America, there is a preponderance of prehospital trauma deaths. However, scarce resources mandate that any improvements in prehospital medical care must be cost-effective. This study sought to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of several approaches to improving training for personnel in three ambulance services in Mexico.